Please give me feedback and stuff, I'd love to improve my writing skill! This is the first chapter of a story I'm writing. My computer has auto-corrected 'lycanthropy' into 'philanthropy' (no idea why), as far as I can see, I've corrected everything, but if I missed one, you know what I mean.

"It's a full moon tonight, isn't it?" Ramona asked, with a pitiful look. Remus sighed. It seemed that whenever people weren't looking at him full of fear and disgust, they looked at him with pity.

"Yes, it is." he answered, smiling sadly at Ramona. She lived in the apartment next to him and often joined him for tea in the late afternoon, she was one of the only people in his neighbourhood who talked to him.

"How are the Potters?" she asked, trying to lighten the sullen mood that had appeared after she'd asked about the moon.

Remus smiled, instantly happier. "They're great, Sirius bought Harry a toy broom. They invited me to join them at dinner tomorrow." The young werewolf was looking forward to tomorrow more than he would've admitted. His friends were all he had, and there were only four of them, since nobody wanted to get to know a beast like him.

"Ah, that's great." Ramona's eyes flickered to the window subconsciously, it was early October and the days were getting shorter. "I'd, uh, I'd better be off." Remus' neighbour smiled awkwardly, trying not to be obvious about the fact that she was afraid to stay too late, it was a full moon, after all. "Good luck this evening. Have you had your potion?"

Remus scowled, despite his normally polite manners. "Yes, thank you." he answered, perhaps a little angrier than he meant, for Ramona looked taken aback. "Sorry, I know you mean well. I tend to have a short temper on the day of the transformation." Remus explained, apologetically.

"It's fine, don't worry, Remus." Ramona smiled solemnly.

Despite what Remus thought of her motivations to talk to him, she actually liked the chap. He was a very nice man and she was sad to see that she was one of the only people who could look past his affliction and see the man he really was.

"Best be off then, bye, Remus." the girl said, before leaving the apartment. "See you, Ramona." Remus replied softly.

He checked his watch and sighed. Five o'clock. One hour until he'd have to apparate to the nearest forest and get ready for the heavy evening ahead of him.

He stood up and put the tea-cups in the sink, then walked over to the mirror in the bathroom and looked at himself. He was looking extraordinarily pale and unhealthy, but that was normal on the day of a full moon. Returning to the living room, his eyes fell on a photography of Sirius, James, Peter and himself, all looking very young and happy.

"Bugger!" Remus mumbled, as he realized he hadn't replied to Lily's letter asking him to join dinner the next day. He checked his watch again, quarter past five. He still had time to write and send a letter.

Dear Lily,

Thank you so much for the invitation, I would love to join you and James for dinner. It'll be nice to see young Harry again, too. I'm sorry to hear Peter couldn't make it, but I'm looking forward to seeing you all.

It's a full moon tonight, so be warned, I'll probably be very tired.

With love,

Moony.

Remus read over his letter and nodded to himself, deciding that it was satisfactory, and tied it to his owl's paw. "Take this to James and Lily, please." The brown owl hooted and flew off.

Remus stared out of the window for a couple of minutes, dreaming about his time at Hogwarts.

Oh, how he missed that place… Strangely enough, one of the things he missed most of all, were the lessons. Remus was a very intellectual man and being unemployed was a nuisance for him, more than for anybody else. The problem was, as soon as employers found out he was a werewolf, he was instantly fired. Always with an excuse as "poor communication skills" or "lack of interest", which were both as unlikely as a doxy dancing a ballet. Remus was a very kind and very polite man, who always seemed to find something interesting about anything. In any case, the poor man never managed to keep a job longer than a couple of months, resulting in him having no income.

The only reason why he had a house, was because James had been financially supporting him ever since they left Hogwarts. Remus hated accepting money from his friends, but he also knew that if he didn't, he'd end up strolling the streets of Diagon Alley, begging for money from strangers.

Suddenly Remus' thoughts were disturbed by his watch, which had grown arms and was pinching him, warning it's owner that it was six o'clock. "Blasted thing." he growled, but was more upset by the thought of what was to come that night, rather than because of the watch itself.

Remus took a deep breath and apparated to the woods outside of London. "Hmrpff." he growled as he landed in a deep puddle, water splashing all over his trousers.

It was getting darker outside and Remus knew that he shouldn't waste any time on scowling about wet clothes. He stared around him, feeling awfully lonely, while he took of his clothes and hung them on a nearby tree. He marked the tree with his wand, so he could find his way back in the morning. "And now we wait…" he mumbled, sitting down on a smooth rock.

The moon was almost rising, he could feel it in his bones. It felt like they were itching and stinging at the same time. Within the next ten minutes, he would be lying on the surface of the wood, crying out in pain as his joints snapped and cracked until he wasn't human anymore.

Remus' mind fluttered to all those nights during his stay at Hogwarts. The last years of his education there, his friends had been with him during every transformation, easing him through it. It made it easier for Remus, he didn't feel as lonely, but at first, he worried about the damage he could inflict on his friends.

He remembered the horror when he had woken up one morning in the forest, lying next to a dead stag. He had cried for at least half an hour before he saw his friends emerge from the trees, among them also James. The relief at realizing the dead stag was in fact, a dead stag, and not his best friend, was immense. Although he felt pretty foolish for letting his friends see him cry. Sirius had teased him about that numerous times after the event, but James always shut him up, feeling touched that Remus had cried over his dead body, even if it wasn't really him.

Once again, Remus was shaken out of his thoughts, but this time by a creeping sensation up his back, and a tingling in his toes.

The transformation had started.